The American Red Cross sets up a text message donation account to help the recovery effort in Haiti after the devastating 7.0 earthquake. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
The American Red Cross has set up a text message donation account enabling anyone in the US to text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the recovery effort. The fully deductible donation will be billed to your mobile phone account.
Rescue efforts are underway in Haiti as death toll estimates climb into the tens of thousands, with as many as 3 million people injured or homeless from yesterday's earthquake.
In the streets of Haiti's capital, Port-Au-Prince, survivors are setting up make-shift camps in the streets from piles of rubble while scavenging for food and water. People are using their bare hands to dig through the rubble in hopes of finding trapped survivors, as bodies lie everywhere. Telecommunications have been down in Haiti, making emergency calls next to impossible. Rescue workers are calling the situation horrific.
People trying to locate U.S. citizens living or traveling in Haiti should contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services, at 1-888-407-4747 or 202-647-5225.
For information on how you can help, contact the American Red Cross P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org
Frequent travelers looking to help out the relief efforts in Haiti can now dig into their reward programs and make a donation. Now after this week's devastating earthquake in Haiti, those travel companies are highlighting how those extra miles or points can help out the victims in the Caribbean.
For instance Starwood Hotels is letting frequent guests at its Westin, Sheraton, Four Points, W and St. Regis hotels use 4,000 Starpoints to make a $50 donation to the American Red Cross.
American Airlines is featuring a link on its homepage for people todonate to the Red Cross. For every cash donation of $50, the airlinewill give people 250 bonus miles in its frequent flier program. Fordonations of $100 or more, that grows to 500 miles.
United Airlines is also letting members of its Mileage Plusprogram donate miles to the Red Cross. On its "Support Haiti EarthquakeRelief" Web site, the airline said as of 3 p.m. that 730,000 miles hadbeen donated through this program.
